A number of dispensers are known in the prior art which are designed to be mounted in the water tank of a toilet and are adapted to deliver active materials to the water tank in response to the flushing of the toilet. In this connection attention is invited to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,455,692 and 4,459,710. The devices of these and similar patents are provided with chambers that contain active chemical materials in solid form (e.g. cakes, tablets, powders granules). Associated with these chambers are openings in the dispenser that communicate with the interior of said chambers. These may be holes that are bored through wall of these chambers or may be bored through a conduit that leads into these chambers.
A number of problems would be encountered in connection with the use, storage and sale of products of the type described in the above identified patents. These are due, primarily, to the fact that an oxidizing agent is typically contained in at least one of the dual storage chambers of the dispenser and is free to get into the atmosphere. Typically, a detergent material is present in the other storage chamber, which detergent is generally incompatible with the oxidizing agent, intermixing of the detergent and the oxidizing agent possibly causing heat due to reaction. In addition, the packaging material that may be used to package the dispenser tends to become brown because of the interaction between escaping oxidizing agent and polyvinylchloride from which the packaging material is preferably made. Similarly, the dusting of the active agents into the atmosphere during storage and shipment are inclined to reach unsatisfactory levels. Furthermore, because of this dusting, it has become necessary to package these dispensers in plastic bags which add to the expense of the product. Moreover, the disposal of the product after its useful life is finished is complicated by the dripping and staining of especially the oxidizing agent when the dispenser is removed from the tank.